Luis Acosta—AFP/Getty Images
The deadliest earthquakes are not typically the strongest ones recorded. Casualties are often a function of earthquake depth (shallow quakes tend to cause more damage), population density, and how much punishment buildings and other structures can absorb before they fail. Some earthquakes, such as the Indian Ocean earthquake of 2004 and Japan’s Great Sendai Earthquake in 2011, produced tsunamis that caused additional damage and loss of life. In contrast, two of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded, such as the Chile earthquakes of 1960 and 2010, had relatively small death tolls.

6The Kashmir Earthquake (Pakistani-administered Kashmir)

The magnitude-7.6 quake occurred on October 8, 2005, in the Pakistan-administered portion of the Kashmir region and the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan; it also affected adjacent parts of India and Afghanistan. At least 79,000 people were killed and more than 32,000 buildings collapsed in Kashmir, with additional fatalities and destruction reported in India and Afghanistan, making it one of the most destructive earthquakes of contemporary times. The timing of the quake added to the misfortune because it left hundreds of thousands of survivors exposed to the coming winter weather.

5The Sichuan Earthquake (Sichuan province, China)

Ng Han Guan/AP
The Sichuan earthquake of 2008 left over 5 million people homeless across the region, and over half of town of Beichuan was destroyed by the initial seismic event and the release of water from a nearby lake. Striking on May 12, 2008, the quake brought enormous devastation to the mountainous central region of Sichuan province in southwestern China. The epicentre of the magnitude-7.9 quake (measured as magnitude 8.0 by Chinese scientists) was in the city of Wenchuan, about 60 miles (100 km) north-northwest of Chengdu, the provincial capital; some four-fifths of the structures in that area were flattened. Whole villages and towns in the mountains were destroyed.

4The Great Peruvian Earthquake (western Peru)

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This earthquake originated off the coast of Peru on May 31, 1970, and produced massive landslides that caused the collapse of many poorly constructed buildings. Approximately 70,000 people died. The most damage occurred in the coastal towns near the epicentre and in the Santa River valley. The most destructive landslide fell from Peru’s highest mountain, Mount Huascarán, located in the west-central Andes. Fast-moving snow and earth swallowed the village of Yungay, buried much of Ranrahirca, and devastated other villages in the area.

3The Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami (Indian Ocean basin)

Philip A. McDaniel/U.S. Navy
On December 26, 2004, at 7:59 am local time, an undersea earthquake with a magnitude of 9.1 struck off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Over the next seven hours, a tsunami triggered by the quake reached out across the Indian Ocean, devastating coastal areas as far away as East Africa. Some locations reported that the waves had reached a height of 30 feet (9 metres) or more when they hit the shoreline.The tsunami killed at least 225,000 people across a dozen countries, with Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Maldives, and Thailand sustaining massive damage. Indonesian officials estimated that the death toll there alone ultimately exceeded 200,000, particularly in northern Sumatra’s Aceh province.

2The Great Tangshan Earthquake (northwestern China)

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The Tangshan earthquake of 1976, also called Great Tangshan Earthquake, occured on July 28, 1976, with a magnitude of 7.5, which nearly razed the Chinese coal-mining and industrial city of Tangshan, located about 68 miles (110 km) east of Beijing. The death toll, thought to be one of the largest in recorded history, was officially reported as 242,000 persons, but it may have been as high as 655,000. At least 700,000 more people were injured and property damage was extensive, reaching even to Beijing. Most of the fatalities resulted from the collapse of unreinforced masonry homes where people were sleeping.

1The Haiti Earthquake (Hispaniola)

U.S. Navy; photograph, Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Justin Stumberg
The Haiti earthquake of 2010 devastated the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince and left an estimated 1.5 million survivors homeless. The earthquake hit at 4:53 pm on January 12 approximately 15 miles (25 km) southwest of the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince. The initial shock registered a magnitude of 7.0 and was soon followed by two aftershocks of magnitudes 5.9 and 5.5. More aftershocks occurred in the following days, including another one of magnitude 5.9 that struck on January 20 at Petit Goâve, a town some 35 miles (55 km) west of Port-au-Prince. Haiti had not been hit by an earthquake of such enormity since the 18th century, the closest in force being a 1984 shock of magnitude 6.9. A magnitude-8.0 earthquake had struck the Dominican Republic in 1946.